WA farmers and truck drivers rally to reopen Tier 3 rail lines

Farmers and truck drivers gathered in Perth today to demonstrate their opposition to the closure of Tier 3 rail lines. The protest is headed by WAFarmers (Dale Park, front left) and The Wheatbelt Railway Retention Alliance (Jane Fuchsbichler, front right).

Olivia Garnett

In a desperate move to rally support from their city counterparts, dozens of farmers and truck drivers from around southern Western Australia gathered at the doorsteps of Brookfield Rail and the Transport Minister's office in Perth to protest Tier 3 rail closures.

More than 500 kilometres of track was shut down this week as a result of what farmers claim to be inaction by Brookfield Rail, which leases the lines, and the State Government, which owns them.

Many grain growers fear the rail closures will result in a less efficient transport system and will cost farmers more to transport their grain to port.

"It’s going to cost us $6 per tonne extra if we have to truck our grain rather than put it on rail," said Narembeen farmer Bill Cowan.

"It’s imperative for us to get the wheat down to market which we won’t do without rail," Mr Cowan said.

"It’ll mean farming is going to go ahead or farming has a chance of dying out where we are."

Truck driver Matthew Swainston, from Albany, drove his truck to make some noise in the streets of Perth.

“Today means a show of unity.

“There’s strength in numbers. Have a look at what’s written on the side of that truck, ‘united: we can make a difference’ and that’s what needs to happen.”

The protesters believe losing Tier 3 will also lead to thousands more truck movements on already badly degraded country roads and crowded metropolitan areas.

"We could've come down with 59 trucks but that would've been mayhem and we just would've put everybody off and they would've been very narky about that.

There’s strength in numbers. Have a look at what’s written on the side of that truck, ‘united: we can make a difference’ and that’s what needs to happen.

Matthew Swainston, truck driver from Albany

"So there are 11 trucks here, that's the equivalent to between a quarter and a third of a train but it's going to be a lot worse than this.

"It's just a way of drawing people's attention to what's actually going on out there."

Dale Park is the President of lobby group WAFarmers and in a letter written to Brookfield Rail CEO Paul Larson on behalf of farmers, he offered for WAFarmers to lease the Tier 3 rail lines from Brookfield for $1 per year until the end of their lease in 2049.

Mr Park says farmers are prepared to foot the maintenance bill, which is akin to what they currently pay in access fees.

“Immediately, we’re going to go and see the Minister and give him a letter too because he's the one who owns the lines.

“What we want to see is some sort of competitive pressure put on Brookfield so there’s actually some competition in this market.”

WAFarmers warned that today’s demonstration was ‘just a pre-cursor to further and bigger action should a satisfactory outcome not be attained’.

The other rural lobby group in WA is the Pastoralists and Graziers Association.